An international team of researchers has analyzed ancient DNA from nearly 300 people from the Iberian Peninsula, spanning more than 12,000 years, in two studies published today Current Biology and science. The first study examined hunter-gatherers and the first farmers who lived in Siberia between 13,000 and 6,000 years ago. The other has looked at people from the area at all time periods over the last 8000 years. Together, the two papers greatly increase our knowledge about the history of the population of this unique region.

The Iberian Peninsula has long been considered an exception in the history of Europe due to its unique climate and its location on the western edge of the continent. During the last ice age, Iberia remained relatively warm, allowing plants and animals – and perhaps humans – to retreat from much of Europe to continue living there. Similarly, over the past 8000 years, Iberia's geographical location, rough terrain, location on the Mediterranean coast and proximity to North Africa have made it unique in comparison with other parts of Europe in interactions with other regions. Two new studies, published simultaneously Current Biology and science, Analyze a total of nearly 300 people who lived between 13,000 and 400 years ago to give unprecedented clarity on the unique population history of the Iberian Peninsula.

A man and a woman buried side by side in the site of the Bronze Age of Castileo de Bonetta in Spain had different genetic fathers. (Luis Benitez de Lugo Enrique and José Luis Fuentes Sanchez / Ofida )

Iberian Hunter-Gathers View two ancient Palaeolithic dynasties

For the newspaper Current Biology, Led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Human History, researchers analyzed 11 hunter-gatherers and Neolithic people from Siberia. The oldest people who have just been examined are about 12,000 years old and were returned from Palma Guilenia, Spain.

The excavation work is carried out at the site of Balma Guilanyà. ( CEPAP-UAB)

Earlier evidence showed that after the end of the last ice age, Western and Central Europe was dominated by hunter-gatherers with an outlet associated with a man of about 14,000 from Villabruna, Italy. Italy is considered a potential shelter for humans during the last Ice Age, like Iberia. Wilavarone-related origin was largely replaced by an earlier origin in Western and Central Europe, which is associated with people between 19,000 and 15,000 years of age associated with the so-called "Magellanic Culture Complex".

Interestingly, the findings of this study show that the two dynasties were present in Iberian people, who arrived 19,000 years ago. "We can confirm the survival of another Palaeolithic dynasty that began in the late Ice Age in its limbs," says Wolfgang Haeck of the Max Planck Institute for Human History, a senior author of the study. "This confirms the role of the Iberian Peninsula as a shelter during the last ice, not only for vegetation and vegetation, but also for human populations."

Hunters – Prehistoric collectors. ( CC0)

This suggests that, far from being replaced by people associated with Villabrone after the last ice age, hunters-litters in Iberia have already been the origin of the Magdalene and Villabruna-related sources. The discovery points to an early connection between two potential phobias, resulting in genetic origin that later survived hunters-collectors and organelles.

"The hunter-gatherers from the Iberian Peninsula carry a mixture of two older genotypes: one dating to the last glacial maximum and once extended to individuals attributed to the Magellanic culture and another to any place in Western and Central Europe and replacing the Magellanic lineage during early Holocene everywhere except half The Iberian Peninsula, "explains Vanessa Villalba-Moko of the Max Planck Institute for Human History, the author of the study.

The researchers hope that the ongoing efforts to decipher the genetic makeup of later hunter-gatherer groups throughout Europe will help to better understand Europe's past, and in particular the assimilation of a Neolithic way of life created by the expansion of farmers from the Near East. Holocene.

Ancient DNA from people spanning the last 8000 years helps clarify the history and prehistory of the Iberian peninsula

Article published in science Focuses on periods a little later, and traces the history of the population of Iberia over the last 8000 years by analyzing ancient DNA from a vast number of people. The study, led by the Harvard Medical School and the wider institution, including Huck Villalba-Moko, analyzed 271 ancient organs from the Mevonian, Neolithic, Copper, Bronze, Iron and Historical periods. A large number of people are allowed the team to perform more detailed explanations about each period than before.

These two skeletons in La Brania, in northwestern Spain, belonged to dark-haired brothers and blue eyes that lived 8,000 years ago and were most closely associated with hunter-gatherers in central Europe. ( Julio Manuel Vida )

The researchers found that during the transition to an active agricultural lifestyle, hunter-gatherers in its organs contributed gently to the genetic makeup of the new farmers from the Near East. "We can see that there must be a local mix as the Iberian farmers also carry the double signature of a hunter-collector of a unique ivory dynasty," explains Villalba-Mouco.

Between 2500-2000 BC, the researchers examined the replacement of 40% of Iberian origin and almost 100% of its Y chromosomes by people with ancestry from the Ponte steppe, an area in what is today Ukraine and Russia Interestingly, the findings show that in the Iron Age, Not only in the Indo-European speaking regions of Iberia, but also to non-Indo-European speakers, such as the Basque region, and the Basques of today are very similar to the typical Iberian iron population, including the Arava dynasty, Were not affected by the subsequent genetic contributions that affected the rest of her organs, indicating that Basque speakers were also affected On the same extent as other groups by the arrival of willow populations, but kept the language anyway. Only after this time they have become relatively genetically isolated from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula.

Olenzero in Beasain. Gipuzkoa, the land of the Basque. (Izurutuza / CC 3.0 )

In addition, the researchers examined historical periods, including periods during which Greek settlements existed and later existed in Siberia. The researchers found that at least in the early Roman period, the origin of the peninsula was altered by the flow of genes from North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. They found that the Greek and Roman communities tended to be multi-ethnic, with people from the central and eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as from the locals, and that these interactions had a continuing demographic and cultural impact.

"Beyond the specific insights about its organs, this study serves as a model for how to use an ancient high-resolution DNA stream that goes on for historical periods to provide a detailed description of the formation of today's populations," Hack explains. "We hope that future use of similar strategies will provide equally important insights in other regions of the world."

The article, entitled " A unique range of genetic history of the Iberian peninsula, w As first published in Science Daily.

Source: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Human History. "A unique diversity of the genetic history of the Iberian peninsula exposed by double studies." science. Science Day, March 14, 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190314151551.htm